Why are the Giants and 49ers playing when the air quality is still ‘unhealthy’?

The NFL is sticking with its plan to play the Monday Night Football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants, even with smoke from dangerous wildfires burning throughout California. The Camp Fire is about 250 miles northeast of Levi’s Stadium.

The fires are close enough to the stadium that smoke has diminished the air quality to the point that it’s considered an “unhealthy” level.

The NFL said that if the Air Quality Index got to a level of 200, then the game would be relocated. It’s not quite at 200, but right before kickoff the Air Quality Index was 156 — high enough to issue warnings about exerting a lot of energy outside.

The air quality in Santa Clara right now is 156, due to the nearby “Camp Fire” in Northern Calif. That’s considered unhealthy and comes with a warning that “everyone should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.” … The “serious health effects” don’t start until the AQI hits 201.

“Obviously our prayers go out to all those people because that is probably the most important thing going on in our country right now, that we’ve got to get that fixed, because it’s scary and it’s a real deal. I know how many people it’s affected in this building, so I can’t imagine around the state. As far as the game on Monday, I don’t know. We’re ready to play and I don’t plan on things changing. If they do, it’s because it needs to. We’ll wait until someone tells us what we’re doing after and we’ll be ready to do it.”